Last night (Thursday, February 15) popular Channel 4 TV show George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces followed Perranporth surfing legend Pegleg Bennett on his journey to build a new home on wheels.

Less than 24 hours after the episode hit TV screens, a fundraiser that had been set up to help pay for his new build has skyrocketed, with hundreds of people from across the UK chipping in to donate.

The world-class surfer said that he had been “blown away” by the “unbelievable” response and support he has received from friends and family as well as complete strangers that have been inspired to help after seeing the episode.

Pegleg told Cornwall Live in the summer: “I have been living in a van for the last four years and I have no plans to return to living in four walls any time soon. I’m definitely a van-lifer now. It’s the freedom that I love about it.”

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But when rust started rotting through the beaten-up truck and his home started to crumble around him, the one-legged adventure seeker embarked on a journey to rebuild it.

Pegleg Bennett in the driving seat of his original home on wheels, which is soon to be replaced by his new living space that he built from scratch (Image: Greg Martin)

At first the plan was to send the VW in for repairs and create a new custom box out of aluminium, to sit on top. But, as the show unravelled, it was revealed that the damage to the van was more serious than first thought and it could not be repaired.

Originally Pegleg had not wanted to part with the van because of the memories he had made travelling across the world, from the Norwegian Arctic Circle to the Sahara Desert in search of the best waves, but he was forced to find a new van.

Pegleg had secured a £10,000 bank loan and the garage sourced a new VW - the same model as his old 'Beast' - for his ‘amazing spaces’ build to sit on top of, but, when the loan fell through, he was left confined to a campsite after plunging all of his earnings into the project.

The programme ended with George Clarke bidding Pegleg goodbye and good luck, still wondering how he would manage to raise the funds needed to make the new van roadworthy and get back on the road.

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For the past few months the van has been in the garage’s workshop, waiting for Pegleg to raise the funds needed to get it roadworthy, around £12,000, but since the show aired the funds have dramatically increased.

Pegleg said: “From the last push it got to around £900 and then it just went dead. As the show was airing last night it went crazy.

“I’ve been completely blown away by it. The response is incredible.

Pegleg Bennett in front of his original home on wheels, which is soon to be replaced by his new living space that he built from scratch (Image: Greg Martin)

“I woke up this morning and saw it was at £9,000, it’s mad, its gone up another £300 or so since I’ve been in work.

“I’m not far away from the £12,000 we need to get it perfect, but work can definitely start now.

“I sent the mechanic a message this morning saying we are all go – and he had been watching it all and checking the page through the night, so he already knew. It’s booked in for Monday.”

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With around £8,000 raised overnight Pegleg hopes that “The Beast Mark Two” will be on the road ready in time for summer ready for him and his daughter Bluebell to enjoy some more adventures in the sunshine.

“Hopefully by Easter me and Bluebell will be back on the road,” he added.

But for now Pegleg is living in the campervan box, which is complete and currently positioned on a campsite in Trevellas.

Pegleg Bennett in his original home on wheels, which is soon to be replaced by his new living space that he built from scratch (Image: Greg Martin)

It took him only around two months to build from scratch.

George Clarke and the camera crew revisited Pegleg at the end of the build.

In the episode George said: “You say you’re not a professional, you couldn’t build it much better than that.”

He added: “Both spaces are spot on, quality of build is spot on, I still can’t believe you’ve been able to do all of this with everything you’ve had to juggle.”

Pegleg spent around £5,000 on the new build and crammed in the work himself in between working 90-hour weeks at two jobs.

He said: “Because I didn’t have the vehicle I was running between the two [jobs], I was doing around ten miles a day and then working on the build in between.”